What's on your mind?

Pure cowardice

News bulletin today: "The Senate failed to muster sufficient support Wednesday for a gun-buyer background check bill that's supported by nearly 90 percent of Americans, voting the measure down in a procedural vote that likely dooms any major legislation to curb gun violence."

This is disgraceful and cowardly of these Senators that the people elected to do the right thing.. The President spoke of the perpetrator(s) of the Boston bombing as coward(s) but that act was not a matter of cowardice, but pure evil. Fear of the displeasure of lobbyists is cowardice. Shame!

James Tobin

Town of Wilson

Long-term security

House Republicans like Paul Ryan want to cut, "voucherize" or eliminate Social Security on the grounds it is or will be insolvent. President Obama has come out in favor of Social Security benefit cuts. None of these solutions are necessary or wise. There are simple fixes to ensure the program's solvency until the 22nd century.

To ensure Social Security's long-term solvency, eliminate the cap on taxable SS income. Right now, the wealthy only pay SS taxes on the first $108,000 of their income, while everyone under that line pays SS taxes on all their income. Eliminating the cap would mean that the wealthy pay SS taxes on every dollar of their income, just like everyone else. Making the SS tax progressive - a greater percentage after the first million dollars of income, would generate much more revenue. Adding a means test to SS recipients - those with millions of dollars clearly don't need SS, would ensure solvency until well into the 22nd century. Remember, Social Security is not a retirement/savings bank for all, it is a social safety net, and the wealthy don't need the net.

David Henning

Sheboygan

Just plain wrong

The left-wing media and people like Chris Mathews continue to be in love with using dead children to make unfounded, untrue statements about the cause of shootings or bombings. Mathews in particular alleges that most crimes like the Boston bombing are typically done by right-wing individuals. That is an outright lie. The Gabby Gifford shooting was done by an a-political nut, as was Newtown, the Colorado theater and so on. I personally drove 50 union protesters to D.C. to protest; the mayhem and garbage left behind was never mentioned by Mathews. But he, as many other media types on MSNBC, CNN, continue to lie about the Tea Party and ignore the criminals in Occupy Wall Street and who knows what else.

Why are these people still on the air?

George Kren

Sheboygan

Gaming the system

It appears there is considerable concern that the end of civilization is at hand as the dreaded Obamacare gets closer to implementation. Paul Ryan is paraded as the poster boy fighting this menace, even though his personal healthcare plan is gold plated and funded by you. The fact is he has proposed no alternative and has no plans to do so. Employers who are cutting hours to make their staff 'part time' to avoid these costs are treating their employees like chattel.

They are fully content to shift this burden onto the public as their workers apply for state and federal assistance in order to survive. The next time you think you have saved money at Wal-Mart or Papa Johns, consider the fact that you are subsidizing their profits by picking up the social costs of their employees via your tax dollars. They do not have the social conscience to do this themselves, even though they can well afford it. They are gaming the system at your expense.

Mark Briese

Sheboygan

Traitorous vote

About a week ago , our senate almost passed a measure that would allow the United Nations the right to pass a measure that would have allowed the U.N. to place a global ban on the import and export of small arms. This would have affected all private gun owners in the United States, and would have implemented international gun registry on all private guns and ammo. This had been championed by the Obama administration.

This is equal to giving away our 2nd Amendment rights. Those 46 senators who voted for this were all liberal Democrats or Independents. This in my opinion makes them traitors, unfit to hold the offices they do. Baldwin of Wisconsin was one of them. These 46 senators voted to give away your 2nd Amendment rights to control of the United Nations. This is not about conservatives or liberals, it is about Americans. Our laws should not, and cannot, be allowed to let foreign countries rule our nation.

Jack Wirtz

Sheboygan

Don't label

The last time my mother visited here, she was driving in Sheboygan when another driver cut her off and, on top of that, also gave her the bird. She blessed him. When I asked why, she said she usually thought to herself, "Bless them (God) and send them on their way." It made more of an impression on me than any of the road-raged drivers I've encountered over the years.

"I get a jolt out of arguing with liberals." "Right-wingers lament the decline of 'civility' but cannot be civil themselves." These recent comments made by Opinion Panel members are commonplace. I believe when we label others, we make them our enemy.

Instead of lambasting and hating each other in print, I'm much more intrigued by the Mantle Project, a program named after the layer beneath the Earth's crust. An article in the Christian Science Monitor on April 1 states, "Public debate typically isn't structured to include why people believe what they do about divisive issues. Civic dialogue would be more productive if this engagement gap were bridged."

The program's founder, Nabil Laoudji, has gotten tea party and 'Occupy' movement supporters to talk together. He wants people to engage and not demonize each other. What a great idea. Maybe, just maybe, we could start to do a bit more of that in our own lives and even in this Opinion Panel column.

Carol Myers

Town of Wilson

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Email this article

What's on your mind?

News bulletin today: 'The Senate failed to muster sufficient support Wednesday for a gun-buyer background check bill that's supported by nearly 90 percent of Americans, voting the measure down in a

A link to this page will be included in your message.

Join Our Team!

If you are interested in working for an innovative media company, you can learn more by visiting: